Slaughter and chicken processing technology

Townspeople buy chickens, ducks, turkeys and other poultry in supermarkets or on the market where the carcasses are already fully processed and, after washing, are suitable for preparing various dishes from them. Rural residents, for the most part, have a subsidiary farm, in which all the work is done on their own, including the slaughter of poultry.

How to select a bird

The slaughter of chickens at home is always preceded by the selection of specific individuals, unless it is decided to eliminate the entire chicken herd.

The owner’s trained eye makes the choice almost automatically. Moreover, spontaneous decisions are very rare, so that birds are slaughtered before slaughter in advance, for example, the day before. Selected individuals stop feeding for three quarters of the day before the procedure. In order to clean the gastrointestinal system, water, which is an activator of digestion, continues.

The second reason for the continued supply of chicken body water is the desire to maintain the maximum possible weight of the carcass.

Two more procedures contribute to cleansing the entrails from food debris:

1. The digestive process is accelerated with the help of Glauber's salt.A 2% solution of which acts as a laxative. Not all owners use just such an option - many for the same purpose 24 hours before artificial starvation include 25% wheat bran or rye flour in the bird ration.
2. For the same purposes, some benefits of modern civilization are used - room with selected birds for slaughterIt is left lit by electricity at night. This leads to the fact that the chicken body loses its temporary orientation and accelerates the digestion of delayed food.

Ways of slaughter

In determining specific methods of slaughter, two factors usually arise:

- utilitarian - so that the poultry meat remains fresh longer;

- humane - To avoid unnecessary suffering in slaughtered chicken. Below we will talk about how to properly slaughter a chicken at home, based on existing poultry farming experience.

An ax

The most common tool for the procedure for the economic killing of chickens is a well-sharpened ax.

Some people prefer a large cleaver, but this depends on the skills or suitability of the hand for a particular holder. It may seem strange to an ignorant observer that in this case the humane approach prevails, but this is exactly the case:

• instantly cut airways;
• blood vessels lead to the instantaneous death of the bird, not having time to feel pain.

Utilitarianism is clearly in second place here, as the chicken neck, cut open by an open cut, is a tasty place for peddlers of infection. Conclusion - the technique of slaughtering with an ax (cleaver) is intended only for cases where meat will be quickly used.

Vrasseal

For the preparation of chicken, which before cooking or selling will have to withstand a long enough period, using other methods.

One of them, according to the technology, which received the name "flush", is slaughtered through the beak and is expressed in the following actions:

• the left hand grabs the bird's head and turns its beak towardfrom which slaughter will be made;
• with the right hand, the miner makes a sharp movement to insert into the chicken's mouth a narrow, long and well-sharpened blade, falling into the junction of two veins - jugular and pavement;
• after making a small incision, the host delays the blade and makes an injection just below and to the right to get, through the palatine slit, to the anterior part of the cerebellum: such an operation relaxes the chicken muscles and facilitates the subsequent bleeding of the carcassbesides, the weakened muscles do not hold the feathers so firmly, which has a positive effect on further plucking.

The slaughter in this way is completed by hanging the carcass upside down to drain all the remaining blood, and when this process ends, a tampon is inserted into the oral cavity, which absorbs blood residues.

Knife or scissors

Choosing the best way to properly kill the chicken, many stop at the outdoor technology, which is done with a knife or scissors and can be one-sided or two-way. The first option involves cutting the skin 2 cm below the ear lobe, while the host’s chicken head is held together with the beak.

By deepening the cutting blade, the miner cuts the venous (jugular) and arterial (facial and sleepy) paths of blood flow. Cut length - 1.5 cm.

The second option (two-way) is based on the following algorithm of movements:

• the left hand holds the bird's head;
• the right hand pierces the skin with a knife (scissors) in a place located 1 cm below the ear lobe.

The blade moves to the right, cutting two jugular veins and both carotid arteries. The blade must be perfectly sharpened, otherwise they will not be able to get out on the other side of the chicken's head, forming a small through hole. The size of the cut, again, should not exceed 1.5 cm.

How to remove feathers

After the slaughter procedure is completed, the question “How to pluck a chicken at home?” Is on the agenda, so that it is not too troublesome and that the bird freed from plumage looks marketable beautifully.

To do this, apply two methods: dry and with boiling water. Most often, the carcass is plucked "dry", making it immediately after bleeding, as otherwise there is a risk of severely pinching.

The generally accepted rules are:

1. Removing feathers from the tail and wings.
2. Pluck feet, chest and neck.
3. Pulling the pen in the direction in which it grows.
4. Feathers pulled out one by one or in small bunches.

Scalding of the bird carcass is not done with boiling water, but cooled to +54 ° C. The total time is 1 minute, and for the wings, neck and head is another half minute. Then there is the process of plucking, after which the surviving peneces and feathers are removed with a blunt knife.

Remove litter

Removal of the remaining litter is called the "toilet of the carcass."

The procedure is simple, it consists in slightly pressing on the bird's belly.At the same time, a tampon is changed in the mouth so that it absorbs the last blood clots.

If it was not possible to avoid dropping litter on chicken legs, they are thoroughly washed, without affecting the carcass itself. Even before evisceration they produce a process of scorching (they use a fire, a blowtorch, a gas stove), removing the finest plumage. If you cover the carcass in front of this thin layer of flour, the soot that appears will quickly disappear along with it.

Gutting the carcass

The sequence of actions is as follows:

• 10-minute cooling of the chicken carcass with cold water;
• the location of the bird belly up;
• circular incision of the cloaca;
• large (4 cm) longitudinal section;
• intestinal recess (with cloaca);
• excavation of the remaining organs.

For holders of domestic livestock, her slaughter is just as common as harvesting.Beginners in the poultry industry listed rules will allow you to abstract from the usual rules and easily cope with the new business.